Map Skills
Branches of Geography
Themes of Geography
Vocabulary to Know
100

An imaginary horizontal line that runs around the center of Earth, halfway between the North and South Poles at 0 degrees latitude.

What is the equator?

100
These are the two main branches of geography.
What are human and physical geography?
100
The theme of geography that describes where something is.
What is location?
100
The study of the world, its people, and the landscapes they create.
What is geography?
200

Imaginary vertical lines on Earth that run between the North and South Poles.

What are lines of longitude?

200

A weatherman would fall under this branch of geography.

What is physical geography?

200
The theme of geography that describes the features that make a site unique.
What is place?
200
A spherical, or ball-shaped, model of the entire planet.
What is a globe?
300
The measure of degrees for both the Prime Meridian and the Equator.
What is 0 degrees?
300

A geographer who studies economics, politics, and city life would be categorized under this main branch of geography.

What is human geography?

300
Areas that share common characteristics.
What are regions?
300

A field that studies people and the relationships among them.

What is social science?

400

A network of satellites orbiting the Earth that uses radio signals to triangulate a location using latitude and longitude.

GPS (Global Positioning system asdf)

400

A geographer who studies landforms, bodies of water, climates, soils, and plants would be studying this type of geography.

What is physical geography?

400
This theme looks at how and why people and things move.
What is movement?
400
A part of the world that has one or more common features that distinguish it from surrounding areas.
What is a region?
500

Exact location on the Earth using latitude and longitude coordinates

Absolute Location

500
This theme examines the many ways in which people interact with their environments.
What is human-environment interaction?
M
e
n
u